CharityVillage

About Us:
Hospice Toronto is committed to supporting individuals, families and caregivers who are dealing with progressive life limiting illness in our community. We work with a dedicated team of professionally trained volunteers who provide a wide range of support to enhance our client's quality of life. When you cannot add days to life, add life to days. Professional staff and volunteers support in enabling individuals to remain in familiar circumstances surrounded by those who care for them.

Hospice Toronto is committed to excellence in client and caregiver care and continues to respond to the changing health care climate. The successful candidate will be an energetic, highly motivated team member committed to the delivery of grief and bereavement support as a continuity of care to our clients of the in-home hospice program, and to outside referrals from our community partners. 

Purpose of the Position:

Reporting to the Senior Manager, Clinical Services, the incumbent of this position is responsible for the recruitment and training of all volunteers engaged in direct service to deliver Hospice Toronto’s client programs. They are also responsible for (or supporting) onboarding and orientation of all organizational volunteers.

The ideal candidate will be organized, and resilient, with customer service or social services experience. Excellent time management and communication skills. This role requires someone who can work independently and as part of a team. An estimated commitment of 15-20 hours per week, with flexibility for some daytime, evening, and occasional weekend availability to provide timely support is required.

Roles and Responsibilities:
Volunteer Recruitment and Training:

• In collaboration with the Sr Manager; Community Programs and the Coordinator; Community Engagement and Retention, ensures the development and/or maintenance of job descriptions for all hospice volunteers
• Implements and evaluates all volunteer related recruitment, orientation and educational activities; develops a comprehensive volunteer outreach and training plan in close collaboration with the other volunteer coordinators.
• Initiates and delivers information sessions as part of the recruitment strategy. This includes info sessions at Hospice Toronto as well as in the community at corporations, community centers, libraries and other venues.
• In collaboration with the clinical team, identifies areas of need and creates a volunteer resourcing strategy for the organization including online, print and in person outreach approaches.
• Screens, interviews, checks reference and recruits all volunteers; ensures police checks are completed and on file
• Plans and delivers core hospice training curriculum in compliance with the Hospice Palliative Care Association of Ontario Accreditation Standards (35-40 hrs.), including identifying external resources to support training sessions, planning refreshments and venues for activities and presentation of core training modules.
• In collaboration with the Client Service Coordinators, assesses suitability of potential care-team volunteers for front-line service
• In collaboration with the Director of Development, assesses suitability of potential fundraising and event volunteers
• Recruits and orients office and committee volunteers when necessary for specific assignments (e.g., newsletter mail outs, etc.)
• Supports departmental volunteers training (Young Carers/Creating Caring Communities/Expressive Arts) where needed and manages their documentation.

 Program Development and Evaluation:

• Participates in strategic and related service and program planning and development for Hospice Toronto
• Contributes to conducting environmental scans of the community to identify and understand emerging local issues and opportunities for volunteer education involvement e.g., issues of diversity
• Implements and evaluates semi-annual care-team volunteer basic education program
• In collaboration with the Coordinator; Volunteer Community Engagement and Retention; Implements and evaluates post-basic training & other volunteer educational activities, including educational activities jointly organized with other agencies.
• Conduct educational needs assessments with individual volunteers and through specific sessions
• Participates in other volunteer related program improvement initiatives, including evaluation of programs and services, consistent with organizational goals and objectives
• Participate in Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) initiatives by identifying areas for quality improvement related to education and implementing changes where appropriate
• Contributes to setting and achieving objectives, and attaining outcomes that are aligned with overall service program directions
• Demonstrates leadership within area of responsibility.
• Assists with the development of relevant program policies and procedures as required

Volunteer and Special Events:

• Participate in events that help build support for Hospice Toronto and our volunteers and support their planning when appropriate.
• Ensures capacity planning and outreach is consistent with organizational requirements.

Administration:

• Maintain computerized volunteer and outreach and recruitment resource addresses and phone lists.
• Maintain a contact list for active participants in info sessions, core hospice training and other educational opportunities. Steward archives
• Collect and maintain statistics re: volunteer recruitment and training ensuring records in the IA database; consistent with the policies, procedures and standards of the organization
• Review current intake forms & recommend new forms as appropriate

Communication:

• Proactively shares information with other staff formally and informally
• Communicate effectively with co-workers, volunteers, senior staff, Board of Directors, the general public, representatives of public and private organizations and others sufficient to exchange or convey information
• Communicates in writing and verbally in a manner that influences support and engagement internally and externally

Other:

• Engages in ongoing learning and stays abreast of current trends and directions in volunteer engagement and education relevant to Hospice Toronto
• Attend relevant network meetings
• Participate in staff meetings and program development meetings

Reporting Relationships:

• Reports to the Senior Manager.; Community Programs
• Supports the functions of all other Hospice Toronto staff and the Board of Directors as described above/or as assigned

Job Qualifications/Experience:

• University degree or equivalent education and/or work experience
• Experience in project management and evaluation
• A Certificate of Management of Volunteers or Adult Education
• Current Ontario driver’s license, auto insurance, access to a reliable car
• Two (2+) or more years’ experience in hospice or health related field preferred
• Computer literacy in Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel

Core Competencies:

• Highly motivated, energetic self-starter: proactive, creative and enthusiastic; achieves goals and objectives within agreed to timeframes relevant to their area of responsibility
• Uses effective personal and interpersonal behaviours: positive, self-aware, demonstrates maturity, exudes integrity, acts on values, inspires others, communicates effectively with co-workers, volunteers, senior staff, the general public, representatives of public and private organizations; relates well with diverse populations and age groups
• Communicates in writing and verbally in a manner that influences support and engagement internally and externally, readily sharing information with the hospice team and others, in a collaborative manner; ability to proactively promote hospice-palliative care programming with referring organizations and the community
• Demonstrated ability to work independently and ethically with little supervision, as well as interdependently, as a member of an interdisciplinary team; team oriented with ability to facilitate/assist with volunteer team coordination/supervision
• Effectively manages area of responsibility : organizes effectively, puts quality first, is outcome focused; demonstrated ability to manage demanding and stressful situations with diplomacy and confidence
• Understanding of and commitment to volunteer and staff partnerships
• Ability to create and maintain client focus: understanding of and commitment to client-centred care resource to volunteers in advocating for clients, anticipates client needs, establishes credibility through effective communication with clients and family/other members of the care team, ability to solve problem solve
• Results/outcome oriented, measuring client satisfaction regularly
• Flexible approach to work planning and implementation
• Capable problem solver, tailoring approach to situation – receptive to feedback

Application Process:
We thank all applicants for their interest. We will only contact those applicants selected for further consideration. No telephone, walk ins or agency inquiries please. Please note that submissions will be reviewed on an on-going basis and individuals may be invited to conduct an advance tele-screen or interview. Therefore, early submissions are encouraged. Deadline to apply is February 14, 2025

Note:
Potential employees will be required to complete reference and security checks as part of the pre-employment process.